Saturday I’m going to play around the Village with my mom. We’re going to check out the new bike racks at Astor Place; it’s a new design. We’re going to see if they’re still in the ground. We’ll grab a cup of coffee and walk around and see the street performers at Washington Square Park, the circus acts that are always entertaining over there.

We’ll probably go shopping. My friend has a store, Agi Brooks, on Spring Street off West Broadway, and they have really sort of funky clothes. We’ll probably go see “W,” the movie, which I’m really excited about seeing, and we have a tradition of takeout Japanese at my mom’s house on Saturday night.

Sunday I go to San Francisco. I head an organization of city transportation officials, and they’re doing a big conference to make a case about the innovations cities are doing, and how we should have those programs be part of new federal transportation policy. We need to make it easier to implement bike routes, public plazas and walking programs.

This is part of a series about well-known New Yorkers and their weekend plans. To suggest profile subjects, send us an e-mail message.

In the meantime, I have a question about your “walking program.” If a majority of New Yorkers are pedestrians – and aggressive peds, at that – then why are the traffic lights on Broadway set for nearly two minutes for automobiles, and only 30 seconds for pedestrians? If anything, it’s the pedestrians who should have more time to safely cross our City streets. In the name of our pedestrian democracy, please extend the crossing times (Broadway) for our pedestrians to 60 seconds.

I would suggest that the properr place for Ms. Sadik-Khan
is jail. She presides over one of the most lawless departments in the city.

Federal and state law require “traffic control devices” such as traffic signs and signals to comply with the federal Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, yet we have non-compliant signs all over the city.
– State law prohibits speed limits of less than 25 mph (except in front of schools), yet her department has set lower limits in hundreds of places.
– 4′ wide pedestrian ramps are required by the Administrative Code at all crosswalks, yet either none are installed, or they are less than 4′ wide.
– Engineering rules and federal law require lights be yellow for at least 3.2 seconds when the speed limit is 30 mph (the NYC limit), yet her departmeent sets them at between 1.5 and 3 seconds.

I don’t believe that anything will change her behavior other than a night or two in jail.

Check out some of the speed traps, snap-changing traffic lights, sparse, faded and confusing DOT signage, poorly sited bus stops and numerous other insults to the citizenry, to which your staff and borough commissioners are largely unresponsive.

When you get a ticket, anywhere from $35 to $115, make believe you are making under $40K, like most of the 80% of us that don’t live in Manhattan.

Then look at your child, who by then will be bored and want a toy, or a snack, or to go to a movie.

I’m not sure about violation of Federal guidelines, but the arrogant and autocratic decisions of Sadik-Khan and the DOT have not changed much since the days of Robert Moses.

Her agency regularly ignores the wishes of communities and community boards, bulldozing pet projects through, e.g.,
– closing streets for her pet projects of mallifying New York into her vision of Bogota or Copenhagen, without any community input
– placement of bike lanes with no community input, or else, ignoring the community’s request to have these lanes where the community wants them, not where her bureaucrats dictate they should go
– wholesale placement of ugly bike racks for the storage of some people’s personal property for days and weeks on end without asking the permission of the building’s owners or tenants who have their sidewalks expropriated and cluttered unnecessarily
– express bus lanes installed on lower Broadway with no community input, resulting in ONE lane of vehicular traffic south of Houston Street – with resulting traffic congestion, confusion and noise
– an incestuous relation with Transportation Alternatives, a private advocacy group. When T.A. barks, Sadik-Khan jumps

This hippy with power would better serve the good burghers of Amsterdam or the Seattle, not New York.

Where there are community boards or building owners like Johnny Walker that, for whatever reason, object to having bus or bicycle facilities in the city, I am incredibly glad that the DOT can proceed without their support. The last thing we need is a few local crackpots with a 1950’s perspective on traffic planning dictating how the transportation network operates. For the vast majority of NYC residents who do not own a car, these bus, bike and pedestrian improvements are a welcome change – one that is long overdue.

In light of the fact that three pedestrians were mowed down in hit-and-runs on Friday, including a senior and a disabled war veteran, I don’t think this is the time to be blasting the progressive changes we have seen the DOT implementing. Meanwhile Transportation Alternatives seems to be the only group representing these hundreds of pedestrians that are being killed by vehicles every year in New York City. If there’s anyone the DOT should be listening to, it’s those guys.

Most of what Johnny Walker said makes me respect Sadik-Kahn even more. Bogota? Copenhagen? Amsterdam? Seattle? You have named four cities with some of the safest, most pleasant and most efficient streets and transportation networks in the world, although I think you left out Paris and Portland. So refreshing to have a city agency actually improving conditions instead of just maintaining the status quo, and looking at examples from other cities when doing so. Way to go Commish!

Kashmir,
First, I do not own a building.
Second, I do not own a car. But I do own a bike.

Some people’s ignorance is exceeded only by their arrogance, Kashmir.

Further, if community boards do not represent the community on the most basic of levels – like what goes on in front of citizens’ homes – who will? Not the autocrats and bureaucrats at DOT, nor undemocratic ideologues like you! I notice you did not dispute any of the facts of the diktatorship of Sadik-Khan when it comes to Transportation matters.

I have no problem with alterating our modes of transportation. It is the bullying and autocratic manner in which this Boss does it. Think Robert Moses on a bike.

Finally, what makes me think that you are a newbie who has recently moved into NYC and brought your small town, suburban mindset with you?

If you like these other cities so much, fine. May I respectfully suggest you move there. Boulder could us a few more hippies.

I’m all for Ms Sadik-Khan and what she has contributed to our city environment. It’s not an easy job. I would encourage her, though, to get about on her bike more — except that riding a bike in New York is a near suicidal activity.

Sadik-Khan has been a joke and a complete failure… Actually this whole administration has shown it could care less about the will of the people or what works for them and has decided its role should be that of our nannies.

No matter how many bike lanes or bus lanes the DOT adds, the fact remains that the fastest way to get from one borough to another is by car (except during rush hour) for probably 50% of New Yorkers. And this can’t be changed until a fundamental shift in values at the state and federal level that will result in more money for public transit. With gas prices heading back down, city transportation officials will continue to be ignored by those who control most of our tax money.

On the plus side for me, I’m moving to Manhattan soon and hope to be able to take advantage of all the new facilities.

What is going on with city streets? Ms. Sadistic-Kahn appparantly rides a bike and has decided that pedestrians must be endangered by people like her. I have had two near accidents with bicylists in the past few weeks on new bike lanes added by Ms. Sadiistic-Kahn. On one, the rider was going the wrong way on a one way street. On the other, they just decided to run a red light. We apparantly have a group a Danish architects(didn’t we have any New Yorkers who know how to do thsi??) planning our streets — the only problem is that Danes probably obey traffic regulations even if they are riding a bikeeand there is no enforcement in NYC of lawless behavior. One wonders about priorities….the newly improved Broadway between Times Sq and Herald Sq has lovely places to sit, but you have to risk your life and cross a bike lane to sit down (again where bicylists are going in any direction they choose). Who decided bicyclists shoudl be given priority over millions of people walking on sidewalks? Enough, Ms. Sadistic-Kahn!, Get off your bike and walk

What's Next

Looking for New York Today?

New York Today is still going strong! Though no longer on City Room, New York Today continues to appear every weekday morning, offering a roundup of news and events for the city. You can find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com or in the morning, on The New York Times homepage or its New York section. You can also receive it via email.

Lookin for Metropolitan Diary?

Metropolitan Diary continues to publish! Since 1976, Metropolitan Diary has been a place for New Yorkers, past and present, to share odd fleeting moments in the city. We will continue to publish one item each weekday morning and a round-up in Monday's print edition. You can find the latest entries at nytimes.com/diary and on our New York section online.

About

City Room®, a news blog of live reporting, features and reader conversations about New York City, has been archived. Send questions or suggestions by e-mail.